Hino’s National Skills Test was held in Sydney this week and marked its fifth year with more skills, more contestants and the biggest prizes in its history. A total of 23 Hino dealership employees from around the country representing parts, service and sales competed in their respective divisions for a chance to win thousands of dollars and national recognition as the best in their field.
Hino National Service Manager Gus Belanszky said Hino’s National Skills Test was created not only as a litmus test of the skill level of Hino’s dealership employees nationwide, but also to improve Hino’s training programs and increase skill retention and application among Hino employees.
“We want to make sure our dealership staff are supremely skilled and that their knowledge of Hino products is unparalleled,” said Belanszky. “But it goes further than that. We’ve undertaken a program of continuous improvement across the company, globally, so our learning, training and methodologies are constantly reviewed and improved. While the concept was originally conceived with our service staff in mind, as our training centre expanded we were able to include the parts department and hone the testing process.
“With the continued expansion of Hino’s training centre here in Sydney, we were able to expand the program to sales. It’s all about training and utilising the resources we have available – it’s a better way for our apprentices to learn and it’s a great way for us to make sure our training and apprentice programs are as good as they can be.”
The program has already met with success, with the skills inspired by it contributing to Hino Australia being named 2011 and 2012 International Parts and Service Departments of the Year by Hino Motors Limited head office in Japan.
Parts and service contestants undertook a four-hour exam, which tested their knowledge of product and processes in their fields. These contestants then went on to complete a series of four 20-minute practical examinations, which tested their technical skill, deductive reasoning and diagnostic processes.
The 2013 event was the first time sales staff were invited to Hino’s expanded training centre in Sydney’s south to join their workmates from parts and service in friendly competition The sales staff were faced with a “mystery shopper” mock-up in which a prospective client approached their dealership with a specific truck application. The sales team were then judged on their ability to match the correct truck and specification for the customer’s application, while assisting the customer with in-depth and detailed questions about the Hino product and brand.
The winners from the 2013 event were WA Hino’s Brandon Healey for service, CMI Hino Adelaide’s Ryan Macauley for parts and Adtrans Hino’s Brett Stinson for sales.